Season apparently saw major developmental changes due to alleged toxic management

Scavengers Studio’s Season, which had an impressive debut preview at The Game Awards in 2020, reportedly had a turbulent development due to the latest in a reported pattern of harassment in the workplace and toxic behavior in the studio. lays out a number of allegations from nine current and former employees of Scavengers Studio, the team behind the previous Darwin project and the upcoming season, against co-founder and Darwin Project, creative director Simon Darveau. Specifically with regard to Season, the report describes an alleged, previous concern among developers at Scavengers that if Darveau were to become part of the team working on Season, the current creative director Kevin Sullivan (who IGN previously spoke to) would essentially ” ignore “. until about season), and the rest of the team’s work.According to the report, these concerns have become real, with allegations that despite his actual role in the game, he remains unclear, but has led to a significant shift in focus and scope ‘on the season than was previously in place. “Several current employees mention that Darveau used the partnership with Sony to force his own ideas into the game, saying that he promised a number of features to clinch the deal – such as a larger world, search and objective markers – which either They said the studio is on the hook, “reads the report from Gamesindustry.biz, with one source quoted in the story saying,” I do not even recognize the game. “of what was originally planned .

One source even said to the exhaust valve: “Although it gave me a lot of joy to see the work of my friends, it was a bit stinging to see a lot of people praise the studio and say how calming and chilling and “Everything may seem progressive. It may well be true for the Season project, but that was not my experience with management.”

Season – 9 screenshots

These concerns are allegedly not only due to allegations of Davreau’s “inability to pursue ideas, which was also a clear aspect of the development of Darwin Project internally. Instead, the report shines a number of accusations against Devreau and the current CEO of Scavengers, Amélie Lamarche.

Most important of the allegations of the alleged hostile workplace created by Davreau and Lamarche is the feeling of a “boys’ club” atmosphere, with allegations that women in the studio are “frequently abducted by male employees, including Darveau, or infantilized and be treated as if they did not know what they were talking about, even if they were talking about their own work from an expert. ‘Furthermore, the report contains reported concerns of current and former employees about Davreau’s abuse and bullying of employees, except for a group of “commandos” who were Davreau’s favorite; allegations that Davreau touched several employees, and the implications that Lamarche was in fact an HR role for other employees, even though he had previously been in a romantic relationship with Davreau.

Scavengers responded to Gamesindustry, saying: “Scavengers Studio appreciates that there have been situations during the rapid growth, and takes the view that any kind of harassment is unwelcome and unacceptable, and takes any complaints in this regard very seriously,” and while the studio told the outlet that “Certain elements … are false, somewhat out of proportion or that there are no important pieces,” Scavengers did not comment further on what could be specifically wrong about the allegations.

Season is scheduled for release this year on PC and PS5.

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